BULLOCKS - euph/typo/LA pron.?

Baker, John JMB at STRADLEY.COM
Tue May 3 13:35:40 UTC 2005


        Ah, yes.  "Donner" is a frequent mistake for "Donder," the reindeer's name in "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (also known by its first line, "'Twas the night before Christmas").  I assume that the mistaken use of "Donner" is the typo you mean; "Blitzen" looks pretty much like "Blitzen" to me.

John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
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Subject: BULLOCKS - euph/typo/LA pron.?


>From the Acknowledgments of 'The Best Awful':

'For Tracey and Johnny -- thank you both so ['so' itals] -- bullocks -- much
for your continued -- tits tits tits -- support. Without the two of you --
cockring -- these lingering coughs would be more difficult to -- wanker --
bear.'

--Carrie Fisher, 'The Best Awful', 2004 (Pocket Books, London, 2005, XIV)

It would seem that euphemism is unlikely, given the context and use of
swearwords throughout the novel.

As for a typo, the only one I found was when reindeers Donner and Blitzen
were referred to as Donder and Blitzen.

So is it LA pronunciation?

--Neil Crawford



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